Page 86

My eyes dropped to the bottom of the page and there it was. Dante’s illegible scrawl. Stark testament to what absolute fuck sticks my parents have always been, I guess. God, the memories rose like bile as I looked at Dante’s signature. I had been so sick, and Dante had been so scared. He had taken care of me, even though he was only a few years older than me. “How did you get this? Why did you get this?”
Grayson ran a hand through his hair. “I didn’t get it, Stefania. It was sent to me.”
The moment realization hit me, it was like a sucker punch to the guts. It was hard to breathe. “Oh. Fuck.”
“Exactly. These photos from the charity gala had been on the internet for no more than four hours before I received this.” He tapped the other envelopes in the folder. “One after the other, every half hour.”
I swallowed heavily. “What else is there?”
“Lots of things. Middle school reports. ‘Stef would do much better if she talked less and concentrated more,’seemed to be a running theme.” A faint, sweet smile passed over his face. “And music was clearly your favorite subject.”
“Yeah. It was. What else is there?”
“A newspaper clipping from your first performance as Boudica. Photos from your high school graduation. Lots of random stuff.”
“All of this…” I gestured to the envelopes. “They’reallabout me?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. So what does this mean? I mean, I know it means he knows who I am. And a fuck ton of other stuff about me. But what does it mean for…”
“It means you have to go into hiding.”
My reaction was instant and visceral. “No way. Absolutely no fucking way.”
“I don’t think you understand the stakes here. We know nothing about this guy. Fuck, we don’t even know if it’s just one guy working on his own, or a group. Or terrorists.” He shoved his hands through his hair again. “And while we don’t know who he is, we don’t know exactly what sort of threat he poses.”
“Right. How long would it be for?”
“I don’t know.”
“Could be a day. A month. A year. Five years.”
“I think that’s overstating it.”
“But you don’t know for sure. This guy could come after you for the next decade, for all we know.”
“We’ll just play each day as it comes. Arrangements have been made.”
“Well, arrangements can damn well be unmade. I’m not doing it. I only just got out of lockdown. Only just got my life back. You can’t ask this of me, Grayson. Some psycho comes gunning for you and…” I narrowed my eyes. “And come to think of it! It’s you he’s after. I’m just collateral damage. So I assume you’re also going into hiding.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
I raised my eyebrow, giving him a stony stare. “Excuse me?”
“Well, how can I? There are too many people relying on me. The entire company would fall apart if I were to disappear.”
Anger flared inside me, bright and hard. Burning away all the anxiety and fear. I scrambled to my feet, standing in front of him with my hands on my hips. “Oh, well, I’m sorry we can’t all be Little Old Disposable me, I guess. I can disappear without a trace for unnamed lengths of time, and no one will notice. How amazing it must be to be?—”
“Stefania!”
“Grrrr, fuck you and your Stefanias, in that deep, growly voice! How dare you!”
“I’m doing this for your protection. There’s no need to be so childish about it.” He was practically yelling at me.
“Childish! There’s no need to be so bossy about it! Or insensitive! Put yourself in my shoes, if you can pull your headout of your ass long enough! I’m not as important as you, I get that. You don’t need to expla?—”
“That’s got nothing to do with it!” He shoved to his feet, scowling down at me.